Congo Basin peatlands: threats and conservation priorities
Congo Basin peatlands: threats and conservation priorities
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DOI：
10.1007/s11027-017-9774-8
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发表时间：
2019-04-01
影响因子：
4
通讯作者：
Lewis, Simon L.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Dargie, Greta C.;Lawson, Ian T.;Lewis, Simon L.
最近出版的刚果盆地中部Cuvette Centrale泥炭地第一张空间明确地图显示，它是面积最大的热带泥炭地复合体，面积约为145,500公里(2)。据估计，这些泥炭地中储存着30.6Pg的碳，现在的问题是这些碳储量是否受到威胁，如果是的话，我们可以做些什么来保护它们。在这里，我们分析了刚果盆地泥炭碳储量的潜在威胁，并确定了与这些威胁有关的知识空白，以及泥炭地系统可能如何应对。考虑到气候变化有可能破坏整个地区碳储量的稳定，气候变化成为一个特别紧迫的问题。非洲中部的社会经济发展正在加快，虽然泥炭地的大部分地区在纸面上受到某种形式的保护，但碳氢化合物勘探、伐木、种植和其他形式的干扰可能会严重破坏泥炭地的生态系统。目前的人为干预水平较低，这表明仍有机会在基本完好的状态下保护泥炭地，可能需要利用缓解气候变化的资金，这些资金不仅可用于保护泥炭碳库，还可用于改善生活在这些泥炭地及其周围的人们的生计。
The recent publication of the first spatially explicit map of peatlands in the Cuvette Centrale, central Congo Basin, reveals it to be the most extensive tropical peatland complex, at ca. 145,500km(2). With an estimated 30.6Pg of carbon stored in these peatlands, there are now questions about whether these carbon stocks are under threat and, if so, what can be done to protect them. Here, we analyse the potential threats to Congo Basin peat carbon stocks and identify knowledge gaps in relation to these threats, and to how the peatland systems might respond. Climate change emerges as a particularly pressing concern, given its potential to destabilise carbon stocks across the whole area. Socio-economic developments are increasing across central Africa and, whilst much of the peatland area is protected on paper by some form of conservation designation, the potential exists for hydrocarbon exploration, logging, plantations and other forms of disturbance to significantly damage the peatland ecosystems. The low level of human intervention at present suggests that the opportunity still exists to protect the peatlands in a largely intact state, possibly drawing on climate change mitigation funding, which can be used not only to protect the peat carbon pool but also to improve the livelihoods of people living in and around these peatlands.